Children of all ages like to watch moving figures and animated toys. Over the years many devices of this nature have been devised. These devices use an assortment of mechanisms to create movement. For example, Canadian patent number 543,489 to Davidson discloses a continuous loop with a magnet and a counterweight. An object or toy is magnetically attracted and drawn upward by the magnet as the counterweight descends. In this case, after each use, the device must be inverted to allow the counterweight to return to its starting position. U.S. Pat. No. 3,126,670 discloses a toy motorcycle which climbs a steep hill. The motorcycle is drawn by a magnet on a string. The string is wound onto a drum as the magnet and motorcycle are drawn up the mountain. Again, the string and magnet must be reset after each use.
Magnets are used in many devices to hold parts of toys and other devices in place. Particularly, there are a number of patents such as U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,645,879 to Richter and 4,177,592 to Ruck which use two magnets (or a magnet and a magnetized material), one on a skater figurine and one beneath the display surface on a mechanical arm to move the figures around a skating rink. These devices are an improvement over the previous devices which use a mechanical link between the skater and the arm. However, this system has several drawbacks. First, the skater is constantly rubbing against the rink surface, and as we all know from looking at an ice rink, this mars the surface of the ice. In this type of animated device, the movement will mark up the rink surface in a particular pattern that will show the exact path the skater takes on each loop. In reality, because the skater is held to its pattern by a magnet below the surface, this marring takes place at a faster rate because the force applied by the magnet is added to the force of gravity.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,279,871 to Segan et al. discloses a skiing Santa Claus that circles a track. The Santa figure is on skis which have rollers beneath them so that the figure can easily roll down the track. The lifting mechanism for the ski lift is a hook which engages a link between the two skis.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,926,435 to Nacci discloses a ski slalom course. The skiers have magnets mounted on the tops of their heads and wheels on their skis. The magnet hooks to "ferrous deposits" on a belt which acts as a ski lift. The figures are intended for racing down the course on the wheeled skis. Several users compete to see whose skier can follow the track without falling.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,673,421 to Leonard shows a ski lift and mountain slope having multiple tracks. Individual magnets are run on a single ascending track and two upper and two lower descending tracks. These magnets drag the skiers up to the top of the mountain and keep them on a combination of one of the upper tracks and one of the lower tracks as the ski figure descends the mountain. As in the case with the skating rink, this will mar the particular tracks the skiers use and thereby detract from the visual appeal of the device. There is no provision for the skier to even momentarily leave magnetic contact with the guiding magnet.
All of these ski lift devices require that the figure wait at a location at the base of a mountain for a hook or magnet to pick them up to draw them to the top of the mountain. Because of the discrete magnets, they also require that the guiding magnet provide the only external force on the figure. If anything moves the figure in any direction and takes the figure out of magnetic contact with the magnet the figure will forever be off the track. In cases where the figure is out of contact with the guide magnet, the figure waits at a location to be picked up by a guiding magnet. These devices could not be used in a ski jump environment because the skiers would be too likely to miss the discreet magnets.